On June 13, Senate Bill 7 became Public Act 97-8, now known as the Education Reform Act, when Governor Quinn signed it into law. The Act follows the Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA) of 2010 by connecting teachers’ hiring and dismissal (including reductions in force) to teacher performance evaluation tools required by PERA. In order to accomplish these goals, the law makes major revisions to seven areas of school process.
The Miller, Tracy, Braun, Funk & Miller, Ltd. Fall 2011 Newsletter is now online. It may be accessed HERE. We cover several topics, including:
Governor Quinn has signed legislation amending the Children with Disabilities Article of the School Code (105 ILCS 5/14-13.01). The bill changes the home or hospital instruction requirements from a “must miss” basis to an “anticipated miss” basis.
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, recently decided a case where a Superintendent claimed that his 14th Amendment due process rights had been violated when he was dismissed after one year of service without a hearing. 42 U.S.C.
On June 13, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit issued two en banc opinions concerning school districts’ ability to punish students who created inappropriate Facebook or MySpace profiles parodying teachers. The court held that the school districts could not punish the students because the profiles were created off school property and the First Amendment protects speech that is made outside the school. Further, the profiles
On March 10, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit found that a School Board in Virginia did not violate the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) when it deemed its golf coach a volunteer within the meaning of the FLSA. Purdham v. Fairfax County Public Schools, 629 F. Supp. 2d 544 (E.D. Va.
Did you miss our seminar on the Illinois Education Reform Act?
Did you not receive one of our handouts?
Did you have questions about some of the topics we discussed?
The Chicago Tribune posted a very interesting article regarding the teaching of 9/11. The article does a good job of addressing some of the topics that the issues might springboard into, as well.
On August 26, 2011, Governor Quinn signed into law Public Act 97-609, previously known as Senate Bill 1831. The law alters the Pension Code with respect to Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund-qualifying employees. The law is generally effective on January 1, 2012.
